Spring 2019 TBC 1142 Modern in Translation

Credit Hours: 3.0 Class Times and Location: TBA Instructor: Zhang Jing, Ph.D. E-mail: [email protected]

Course Description This course is a survey of the modern Chinese literature from 1918 to 2000. It will focus on the fiction, poetry and essays during 3 periods (1918 ~ 1949; 1949 ~ 1976; since 1976) in the 20th century. Through a close study of famous Chinese writers and poets such as Lu Xun, Yu Dafu, Xu Zhimo, Wen Yiduo, , Lao She, Shen Congwen, Ba Jin, Chang Eileen, Ai Qing, Chen Yingzhen, Wang Meng, Yu Hua, Gao Xingjian and , as well as some of the avant-garde writers such as Can Xue, students will have the opportunity to explore their own ideas of what the development of the Chinese literature in the 20th century is like, and be informed of one of the important sides of the modern Chinese culture, as well as the styles of literary creation of those great Chinese writers such as Lu Xun, Xu Zhimo, Lao She, Shen Congwen, and so on. Because the modern Chinese literature has been greatly influenced by many historical events during the 20th century as well as by Western thoughts, aesthetics, literature and culture, so the historical and Western influences on modern Chinese literature and the combination of the old Chinese literary tradition and the newly introduced Western literary tradition in modern Chinese literature are to be explored, too.

Learning Outcome Lectures, readings, paper assignments, and discussions are designed to help you develop the skills to: • Think aesthetically, read critically, and write and speak persuasively. • Connect and integrate aesthetical appreciations and cultural understandings of the modern Chinese literature, and grasp the styles and creative skills of different Chinese poets and writers. • Develop the skill of literary criticism in a combination of both Western and Chinese literary and cultural theories. • Develop the practice of reading literary texts within their peculiar Chinese social, historical, cultural and mental contexts. • Use primary and secondary sources to construct original, complex, logical and aesthetical interpretations of the modern Chinese literary works.

Required Textbook

Lau, Joseph S.M. & Goldblatt, Howard (ed.): Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature, New York: Columbia University Press, 1995 http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=DRt84_yIsrAC&pg=PR41&lpg=PR41&dq=a+post humous+son+by+ye+shengtao&source=bl&ots=zZclTvJheV&sig=7VFgDBXf6oeHM6Wb RFeE4uci1Y8&hl=zh-CN&ei=x- M_TaGhNIOrccaXnLwC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEw AA#v=onepage&q=a%20posthumous%20son%20by%20ye%20shengtao&f=false

Course Requirements 1. Course readings On Reserve at the TBC Library 1. Lu, Xun: Selected Works, vol. I, : Foreign Languages Press, 1956 2. Lao, She: Camel Xiangzi, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1978 3. Shen Congwen: Imperfect Paradise, University of Hawaii Press, 1995 4. Chang, Eileen: The Rice-Sprout Song, University of California Press, 1955 5. Wang, Meng: The Butterfly and Other Stories, Beijing: Chinese Literature Press, 1987 6. Wang, Jing(ed.): China’s Avant-garde Fiction, Duke University Press, 1998 7. Howard Goldblatt: Chairman Mao Would Not Be Amused: Fiction from Today’s China, Grove Press, 1995 8. Mo Yan: Red Sorghum, Penguin Books, 1993

2. Assignments & Exams During the course, at least one presentation should be made by each student. Mid-term paper will be a short one (4 pages), and final paper a longer one (8 pages). The short paper will count for 30% of the final grade. The final paper will count for 50% of the final grade, and class participation (including presentation, in-class paragraph writing and class attendance) will count for 20%.

Late paper policy: All students are allowed one late paper among the three short papers, provided it is not more than one week late. The second late paper will result in a full grade reduction for the course. The third late paper will result in failure for the course

3. Attendance Policy Only valid medical or family emergencies qualify as an absence, and documentation of the same must be presented to the professor no later than the next class meeting. All other absences are considered to be unexcused. Unexcused absences will affect your grade (see below). Arriving more than 10 minutes late for any three classes will cumulatively count as one unexcused absence, while arriving 30 minutes late for any class will count as an unexcused absence.

Penalties for unexcused absences: 1 absence – class participation grade drops one full letter grade (example: A- to B-) 2 absences – class participation grade drops two full letter grades 3 absences – class participation grade drops three full letter grades 4 or more absences – class participation grade is a failing grade

Any absence, whether excused or not, will require catch-up reading.

4. Grading

2

(a) Class participation (20%) including presentation, in-class paragraph writing and class attendance (b) Midterm paper (30%) (c) Final paper (50%)

5. Academic Honesty Statement Please click the following link to see The Beijing Center’s policy on Academic Integrity: http://thebeijingcenter.org/academic-integrity

Course Schedule

Week One a) Class introduction b) Historical background of the modern Chinese literature c) A short introduction to the ideological, emotional and artistic features of the modern Chinese literature Reading assignments: Textbook, p.xv ~ xxiii, p. 21 ~ 69, 111 ~ 119

Week Two a) Xu Dishan, “The Merchant’s Wife” b) Ye Shaojun, “A Posthumous Son” c) Lin Shuhua, “The Night of Midautumn Festival” d) Yu Dafu, Sinking Reading assignments: Textbook, p.3 ~ 20; Lu Xun, “Ah Q—The Real Story”; Lu Xun, “New Year’s Sacrifice”; be prepared for presentation about Lu Xun

Week Three Lu Xun, “Preface to the First Collection of Short Stories, Call to Arms” “A Madman’s Diary” “Ah Q – The Real Story” Reading assignments: Textbook, p.70 ~ 88; 120 ~ 125; 97 ~ 110

Week Four – Week Five, no class and students in the Yunnan Excursion

Week Six “Kong Yiji” “New Year’s Sacrifice” “Medicine” (in-class paragraph writing)

Week Seven a) Mao Dun, “Spring Silkworms” b) Ba Jin, “Dog” c) Shen Congwen, “Xiaoxiao” Reading assignments: Textbook, p. 126 ~ 135; 143 ~ 158; 174 ~ 197 SHORT PAPER DUE (on Lu Xun as mid-term paper—4 pages)

Week Eight

3

a) Shi Zhicun, “One Evening in the Rainy Season” b) Ding Ling, “When I was in Xia Village” c) Xiao Hong, “Hands” d) Zhang Ailing, “Sealed Off” Read assignments: Textbook, p. 89 ~ 96; Lao She, Camel Xiangzi

Week Nine a) See part of the Film Camel Xiangzi b) Discussion about Lao She’s Camel Xiangzi and “An Old and Established Name” Reading assignments: Textbook, p. 201 ~ 234; 246 ~ 254

Week Ten, no class in spring break

Week Eleven a) Zhu Xining, “Molten Iron” b) Chen Yingzhen, “My Kid Brother Kangxiong” c) Bai Xianyong, “Winter Nights” d) Huang Chunming, “Ringworms” Reading assignments: Textbook, p. 296 ~ 314; 383 ~ 398

Week Twelve a) Wang Meng, “Tales of New Cathay” b) Chen Ruoxi, “The Tunnel” c) Can Xue, “Hut on the Mountain” d) Han Shaogong, “The Leader’s Demise” Reading assignments: Textbook, p. 416 ~ 443; 485 ~ 490; Mo Yan, Red Sorghum

Week Thirteen a) Mo Yan and his Red Sorghum b) Liu Heng, “Dogshit Food” c) Yu Hua, “On the Road at Eighteen” Reading assignments: Textbook, p. 503 ~ 510; 513 ~ 514; 519 ~ 523

Week Fourteen a) Xu Zhimo, “Second Farewell to Cambridge”, etc. b) Wen Yiduo, “Dead Water”, etc. c) Li Jinfa, “Woman Abandoned” d) Dai Wangshu, “Rainy Alley” e) Ai Qing, “Snow Falls on China’s Land” Reading assignments: Textbook, p. 533 ~ 534; 569 ~ 574; 577 ~ 579

Week Fifteen a) Mu Dan, “Self”, etc. b) Bei Dao, “Declaration”, etc. c) Shu Ting, “When You Walk Pass My Window”, etc. d) Yang Lian, “ The Dead in Exile”, etc. Read assignments: Gao Xingjian, Bus Stop

Week Sixteen Finals Week

4

Gao Xingjian and his Bus Stop FINAL PAPER DUE (on modern Chinese literature including poetry—8 pages)

http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=OoY4QVhwwZkC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=T he+Merchant's+wife+by+Xu+Dishan&source=bl&ots=HOre8BpNB9&sig=GxByiOsYsNK GhR8P4aO7HhtOBBI&hl=zh- CN&ei=SZ0_Tc7PFISkcb_MzYkC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CD 4Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=The%20Merchant's%20wife%20by%20Xu%20Dishan&f=f alse The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century

5